Countdown
by BlueOcean44
Summary: The journey showing how Rachel and Tom become closer as time passes. Mostly AU's. Rachel Scott/Tom Chandler
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I'm finally back. I've been working on this story for a while. I wanted to have most of it done before uploading. I wish that I had more time to write, but real life gets in the way. So this story is going to be made up of AU scenes that could've happened.

Chapter 1: 1x03 dead reckoning- Quincy tries to get Rachel off the ship

"Rachel go! Get down the stairs now!"

It's Quincy yelling at her from behind. They're standing on the deck of the ship. He's pressing her against the railing, forcing her to move forward. Well, not forward she muses, more like down. He continues jabbing the revolver into her shoulder blade, trying to push her into action. But Rachel can't seem to move. She's looking down into the darkness of the ocean. She can't see anything. She can barely see the side of the ship let alone the black waters below. She can hear the tiny splashes of waves hitting the bottom of the ship. It scares her to death. She doesn't want to go down there. So, instead, she decides to turn around to face Quincy and his gun.

"What do you think you're doing?," she asks him.

He doesn't look at her. He keeps glancing behind his shoulder, making sure that none of the crew has spotted them. Finally, his eyes settle on her face. He stares directly at her, unwavering. She's never seen him look like that before. It frightens her.

"I will shoot you Rachel, I will. Or better yet I will start shooting the crew and then come back for you. So just stop talking and get down there," he orders her in a hushed tone. This time, he points the gun directly at her heart. He's no idiot, Rachel reminds herself. He knows exactly where to shoot in order to inflict the most damage.

She nods because she doesn't doubt him. She can see that his threats are real. Something has happened to him and she believes that he will do whatever he has to in order to get her off of this ship.

Rachel begins to descend the metal stairs. She moves as quickly as possible. The metal is ice cold, almost burning her skin from the night air. Her hands are already beginning to feel numb, but she continues to move. Quincy is following her from above. She can see the gun still in his grasp as he holds onto the railing. He also has the case full of their samples in the other hand. She can't understand why.

Rachel finally reaches the RHIB floating below the stairs. She taps her foot on the rubber siding in order to catch her balance. Quincy stops moving above her. He's pointing the gun at her once again. Waiting for her to move away from the stairs. "Move to the front," he orders her with a wave of the gun.

She quickly walks unsteadily to the front of the RHIB and then turns to watch him jump down to join her on the boat.

He puts the case of the virus samples next to his foot. "Now sit over there." He motions for her to move towards one of the makeshift benches lining the sides of the RHIB.

"Do you even know how to work this?," Rachel asks him. She doesn't think that he knows what he's doing. He's barely left the lab since they've been on the Nathan James, let alone learned how to run a RHIB. She watches as he fiddles with the engine and controls. "Quincy, come on. This is crazy. Think about what you're doing," Rachel begs. What is the plan? Riding into the night until they hit land? Where is there to go?

He spins around so quickly that it startles her. "This has nothing to do with you Rachel! Just stop," he says to her. She's never seen him so on-edge. He riffles through his pockets and pulls out a bandana.

Quincy walks over to her and covers her eyes with the piece of cloth. He ties it roughly around her head. She can feel pieces of her hair become twisted in the knot. It's uncomfortable, but she doesn't protest.

He's quiet for a minute, but Rachel can hear the sounds of zippers and items being tossed around. Suddenly, she can feel him standing in front of her again, but this time he begins pulling on her hands. "Put your hands out," he tells her. He presses her wrists together and begins binding them together with a thick rope. She can already feel the frayed parts digging into her delicate skin.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Dan Jones rolls his eyes at his patrol partner, Jeff Wentz. He can't take his friend's constant babbling anymore. "Dude, alright. I get it. You think Dr. Scott is interested in you. I believe you." Not really. There is no way Dr. Scott is interested in him.

"No, you're not listening to me! She totally checked me out yesterday. You didn't see it. She-," Jeff continued.

Dan put a hand up to signal Jeff to be quiet. "Shhh."

Dan could hear faint voices that sounded close to them. "Do you hear that?"

Jeff nodded.

They each grasped their weapons tighter as they scanned the surrounding area.

Dan continued ahead of Jeff, checking behind corners around the deck of the ship.

"Hey what are you doing down there?" Dan heard Jeff yell. He turned around to see Jeff standing against the railing with his weapon raised.

"Stop!," Jeff ordered.

Dan pulled his radio up, readying himself to report what was going on. He looked down into the water and saw two figures in one of the RHIBs. "Nathan James we have two people in RHIB C preparing to flee. I repeat two people in RHIB C preparing to flee," Dan spoke frantically into the radio.

Jeff fired a couple of warning shots into the water surrounding the RHIB.

Both men heard a scream from one of the people in the boat.

Dan took out his binoculars trying to figure out who was occupying the RHIB at this time of night. His eyes widened as he recognized who they were.

"Hey! Hey! What the hell is going on?" Dan spun around to see Captain Chandler running towards him.

"Captain, the scientists are hijacking one of the RHIBs," Dan explained.

Captain Chandler's face is filled with confusion. "What!" He doesn't believe what Jones has just said. Captain Chandler takes the binoculars from Jones' outstretched hand. He quickly focuses his gaze on the zodiac floating in the water.

His eyes widen as he sees Dr. Tophet revving the engine while pointing a gun towards the other occupant. He scans the rest of the boat, only to find Dr. Scott sitting to the side with her hands bound and eyes covered. "Damn it. What the hell is going on here? Tophet's got a gun on her," he tells his men. He steps away from the railing and runs a hand through his hair. He doesn't know what to do. What happened between the two doctors? All he knows is that they need Dr. Scott. This can't turn into a hostage situation or a shoot out. They couldn't afford to lose anymore crew members nor doctors.

Captain Chandler hears the click of a gun cocking and immediately looks up to see Wentz aiming to fire. Chandler's hand automatically darts out and smacks the gun downwards. "Don't shoot. Don't shoot! You may hit Dr. Scott," he yells in a panic.

"Where could he possibly be taking her?," the XO asks.

Captain Chandler stares out into the open waters. Its the middle of the night, he could barely see the RHIB from the ship's lighting. "Ruskov," he mumbles.

"What?"

"Ruskov. Its the only explanation. There's nowhere else to go. He must be in contact with the Russians," Chandler explains. "Come on," Chandler orders Wentz and Jones. They follow him as he begins running to the opposite side of the ship.

"Where are you going?," the XO yells in confusion.

"Getting to the other RHIB!" Chandler responds.

The three men finally reach the RHIB, labeled RHIB B, on the opposite side of the Nathan James.

Captain Chandler frantically revs up their engine.

"Captain, he has the engine started," Jones reports as he watches Dr. Tophet from their position.

Jeff takes over steering duties as Captain Chandler and Dan set up along the sides of the boat, each aiming their guns. "Lets go. Don't shoot unless you have a 100% clean shot. We need Dr. Scott."

"Aye sir," both men say.

-/-/-

Rachel steadies herself as the RHIB starts moving. The sudden movement caught her off guard, but she was able to keep her feet grounded. She begins to shiver as the cold wind hits her body, especially her face. She's wearing a large sweater and jeans, but her face is unprotected to the icy air. She can't help but think about what it would feel like to take a long, steaming shower. If she lives through this, that's the first thing that she will do, she decides.

Suddenly, the sound of metal ricocheting off of metal hits her ears. An involuntary scream leaves her mouth; she cant help it. The fear of being shot at while blindfolded overcomes her. She instinctively ducks as best she can and covers her head. Rachel can feel her heart beating erratically against her chest. She stays completely still, listening for any signs of movement. She can hear Quincy's heavy breathing. Then, she notices that they have slowed down and that the RHIB has started to make strange noises.

Out of nowhere Quincy begins to scream in anguish. "No! No, please. No. No. No." Quincy continues to mumble "no" over and over again. Rachel doesn't know what has happened. Did he get shot?

"Quincy, what's happening?," she asks quietly.

-/-/

Chandler smirks as he takes his finger off of his gun's trigger. It was the perfect shot, right to the middle of RHIB C's engine. Now, there is nowhere for Quincy to go with Dr. Scott.

"Great shot Captain. The engine is fried. They won't be able to go anywhere," Dan says.

"Let's slow down a-," Chandler begins, but stops abruptly as he sees what Quincy is about to do. "Stop the boat!," the Captain yells.

"Sir?," Jeff asks.

"I said stop!" He has no time for an explanation. And there's no need for one as the three soldiers watch as Quincy grabs Dr. Scott and points his gun to her temple.

"Stay back!," Quincy yells over at them.

"What do you want Dr. Tophet?" Captain Chandler doesn't understand what the endgame is here.

"I want you to go back to the ship. Leave us alone." Quincy moves Dr. Scott's body fully in front of his own, in order to shield himself from their fire.

"I can't do that. Why don't you tell me what's going on?," Captain Chandler responds calmly.

"Get out of your boat, swim back to the ship. I need your boat."

The Captain tries a different tactic. "Why don't you let Dr. Scott go?" He wants her out of harms way.

Tensions run high as the men all watch Quincy pull Dr. Scott tighter to him and jams the gun harder into her skull. "This isn't some kind of negotiation. You either get out of your boat or I shoot her. Simple as that."

Both sides are at a standstill. Silence fills the air. The only noise that could be heard is the ocean water slapping against the RHIBs.

"Do it!," Quincy screams in frustration. His patience has dissipated.

"Alright." Captain Chandler puts his hands up in surrender, hoping to diffuse the situation. He eyes Quincy closely, not wanting to give the doctor a chance to do something over the edge. He's become more unstable with every minute of inaction. And suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the two doctors topple into the water. Captain Chandler almost believes that he had hallucinated it. But it really did happen. Without warning Rachel had pushed backwards causing Quincy to hit the side of the RHIB and take her with him overboard.

The Captain almost jumped in after them, but then rational thought came back. He remembered that the RHIB can move to the doctor's position in a faster amount of time. "Get us over there," he orders.

TBC, leave a review please! Thanks for reading :)


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey readers! Thank you for the encouragement for the first chapter. Here is part 2!

The moment that they hit the water Rachel regrets her decision. Her rapid spike of courage seemed to make her forget that her hands are bound tightly together. Now there's a possibility that she could drown. That would leave no hope for the crew on the Nathan James or the rest of the world. She has no time to dwindle in her thoughts though, as Quincy climbs on top of her and pushes her down further into the water.

When they landed, Rachel was somewhat on top of him, but now he's using her to stay afloat. She can feel his hands on her head dunking her in and out of the water. She frantically gasps for air over and over again. He has a tight grip on her hair and somehow that hurts the most. She kicks her legs as hard and as fast as she can. It's the only way that she stays afloat because her arms can't really do much. She desperately tries to pull her hands out of the rope's tight knot, but she can't do it. She's beginning to panic from lack of oxygen. She can feel water in her nose and throat. It feels like its everywhere and she will never be able to escape it. Her body is numb now. She can barely feel the cold water surrounding her, but she can feel her limbs start to tire and the weakness creep in.

She decides to give it one last shot. She elbows him in the groin and can feel his grip loosen. She frantically reaches the surface and is able to breathe again. It only lasts a few seconds as he pushes her down once again. And somehow in the scuffle, Rachel is hit in her left eye by Quincy. She senses that it was deliberate.

She is momentarily stunned and forgets that she's in the water. Until she can't breathe anymore and there is water filling her lungs again. Then, she's suddenly freed from Quincy's grip. She doesn't know, nor does she care about what has happened to him. She stays focused on swimming towards the surface. Once she breaks through the water, she feels the crisp night air hitting her face before she can even suck in a breath. The uncontrollable coughing begins as her body tries to fight the water in her lungs and the incoming air. It feels like she is going to throw up the remaining contents in her stomach. There's no way that she can catch her breath with so much going on.

Quincy's hands settle on her waist this time around. Her insides tighten as she readies herself to fight for her life once again. She expects him to pull her back underwater, but instead he turns her around to face him. Rachel decides to take the upper hand by swinging her fist as hard as she can into the direction that she thinks his face is. She feels her knuckles make contact with his cheek bone. It hurts like hell. It makes her hand feel stiff and burning.

"Dr. Scott." Rachel hears the Captain's voice calling her name. She realizes that she only has to fight Quincy just a little bit longer and then the Captain will help her. Rachel swings her fists into his chest as she feels Quincy grip the sides of her arms. He's holding her above the water now. The wet blindfold is pulled off of her face. "Rachel it's me."

"Rachel," Captain Chandler says softly as he looks into her eyes. He sees her finally realize who he is as he his hands run down the length of her arms. Then, the Captain grasps her forearms and pulls her knotted wrists over his head, which makes her arms wind around his neck so that he can hold her up.

Rachel sucks in a deep breath. She can't believe that the Captain is actually here in the water with her. She had truly believed that he was Quincy preparing to drown her. She wants to speak, but can't get enough air into her lungs. She needs to tell the Captain about the samples that Quincy had brought along with them during the escape. But before she can, she begins to cough uncontrollably into Captain Chandler's shoulder. He wraps his arms around her body and pulls her flush against his own.

Somehow, in all of the chaos she feels a sense of security as he holds onto her. It's been months since she has had any physical contact with another person. But even in the ice cold water, she feels the heat seeping into her skin from Captain Chandler's body. She can feel him wrap his arms around her back, holding her tightly to his chest. Her chin rests on his shoulder, keeping her face out of the water.

He supports her weight while she continues to heave uncontrollably. She finds herself clinging to him. Her hands grip fistfuls of his t-shirt near the back of his neck, where her wrists are binded. She feels a spark of something warm in her body. The closeness to this man, this powerful Navy man, is something that she has never experienced before. Sure, she has had meaningful relationships with men before, but this is different. She has never felt like this before. She feels protected and genuinely cared about whenever he is around.

Rachel can't stop shaking. She hopes that she will be able to avoid becoming hypothermic. As long as they get out of the water soon, she believes that her body will be okay. That's all that the world needs, she muses. The greatest hope that they have of finding the cure dying due to hypothermia.

"Come on." Captain Chandler unwraps an arm from Rachel's body so that he can begin to swim them over to his RHIB. Rachel does little to contribute. She can barely keep her head afloat. The Captain basically drags her limp body the couple yards to the boat. Once they are close enough he begins to lift her out of the water and into the boat. But before he can pull her out she starts to resist. It's as if she has suddenly come out of a drug induced haze. She begins fighting against his hands as he tries to hold onto her.

"No...no. The samples," she tells him. "We have to get the samples first. Quincy took a container full from the lab."

His eyebrows shoot up unintentionally as he flashes her an incredulous look. At first he thought that she was reacting to Quincy's presence on the boat. That he could understand. But he cannot believe that she would refuse getting out of the water just for the case of samples. "Look, I'll get the samples. You let Wentz get you dried off and comfortable." He wants to keep Her calm and safe. He figures that the faster that they can come to an agreement, the faster that she will get onto the boat.

"Ma'am." Jeff offers Dr. Scott his hand in order to pull her up.

She immediately shakes her head no. "I need to get them," she states passionately. She begins to unwrap herself from the Captain and moves to swim over towards the RHIB that Quincy held her on.

She is frozen to her spot as Captain Chandler keeps a strong grip on her arm, effectively holding her back. "Dr. Scott, listen to me. You've been through hell. Just get on the boat and I'll retrieve the samples. You can observe everything that I do. Let me help you." He lowers his voice, "you know as well as I do that everyone on that ship needs you alive and well. So please do as I ask."

Rachel stares into Captain Chandler's serious face and caring eyes. For some reason, the way that he looks at her makes her want to burst into tears. She feels overwhelmed and cannot take anymore stress tonight."Can you cut this off of my wrists...please," she begs almost in a whisper, gesturing to her binds.

Wordlessly, Captain Chandler pulls out his pocket knife and slices through the thick rope wrapped around her tiny wrists.

Jeff offers Rachel his hand to board the RHIB, which she finally accepts. He lifts her effortlessly out of the freezing water and into the more familiar boat.

"Lieutenant, get her all of the blankets and towels you can find," Chandler orders from his position in the water. This situation is nothing to him. He is barely affected by the icy temperature of the ocean as he swims steadily towards RHIB C. His training has prepared him for the worst, so this is no big deal. But he can't seem to shake the feeling of anxiousness that has been eating away at him ever since he spotted Rachel with a gun pointed at her. That, he wasn't prepared for. His heart just about dropped to his feet when he spotted her blindfolded and bound inside one of his own RHIBs. He feels guilty for having such a strong reaction towards Dr. Scott, but it is out of his control. It seems natural to care for her safety. To know that she is securely tucked away in her lab aboard the Nathan James keeps his mind at ease. He doesn't know when he started worrying about her. And he wonders what else the worrying will turn into. After all, she is a beautiful and smart woman. It is only natural that he would be attracted to her, who wouldn't.

"Captain!," Wentz calls out to him.

Chandler turns around to see the RHIB approaching and keeping a distance of a few feet.

"The doctor insisted on helping you." He gestures behind him to Rachel leaning over the side of the boat intently gazing at the container of samples in the other RHIB.

The Captain's focus is pulled behind Rachel's shoulder to the opposite side of the RHIB where his other lieutenant and Dr. Tophet are seated. He can see that Jones has Tophet handcuffed to his own wrist, effectively restraining him. This makes Captain Chandler feel a tad more relieved about the situation. He can't help but feel uneasy having Rachel in Tophet's presence right now. He would feel much better if he was next to her on the boat. That way he could keep a close eye on her and protect her in case Tophet would make any sudden movements.

Rachel pulls him back to the present as she starts speaking, somehow calmly as if nothing has even happened. "Captain, as you approach the case I need you to make sure that it is intact." He observes her, making sure she's alright. He sees that she is now wrapped up in layers of blankets with a hooded jacket on underneath covering her head. At least the wind wouldn't be able to hit her wet hair, he thinks. Even under all of the clothing she still looks as passionate about her work as ever. Not even taking a moment to sit down as she braces her leaning body against the side of the boat.

"There can't be any cracks or we could be put at risk." Tom listens as he hoists his body over the side of the RHIB and rolls inside. The engine is smoking from the bullet that punctured it, but the rest of the boat is otherwise undamaged. He spots the case of samples on the other side of the RHIB, next to a backpack. Captain Chandler approaches it wearily. He doesn't know what he would do if the case was cracked. What options would they have? Could they have already been exposed? He shakes his head, he can't think like that. He's the Captain. He must stay positive. He reaches the case, but doesn't know how to properly handle it. "Uh, Dr. Scott...how should I do this?," he calls out to her.

"Is it sitting up or knocked over?"

The Captain takes steps within an arms length of the case in order to get a better look at it. "It's just sitting upright, the handle is at the top. The plastic doesn't look cracked or anything." He eyes it wearily as if it would pop open by itself at any second.

"Okay, we're safe then. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't disturbed during all of the commotion. You may pick it up carefully and bring it over here."

He grips the handle of the case tightly and cradles it in his arms like he would an infant. He's afraid that it will somehow break if he doesn't.

"Captain, I'll take it," Jeff says to him from the other RHIB.

Now, the other RHIB is no more than a foot away from the RHIB that Tom is on. He looks across to his men and sees Wentz waiting for the case with outstretched arms. Dr. Scott is still standing near the edge of the boat anxiously awaiting the return of her samples. Wordlessly, the Captain passes the case over to Wentz and leaps over to the other boat in order to join them.

Rachel immediately reaches for the case. "I've got it," she assures Jeff.

"Ma'am," he says hesitantly as he grips the case tighter, not letting go. He looks to the Captain on how to handle the situation.

The Captain closes his eyes, taking a moment to calm his frustration. He doesn't want to tell Rachel what to do, but she is in no condition to be handling the virus. He wishes she was more compliant with him, but then again he does respect her passion. He reaches out, placing a hand on her arm. "Dr. Scott, relax...please. Wentz will take care of it."

"He isn't trained-"

"You need to rest. Please just wait until we get back to the ship."

Her shoulders fall in defeat. She knows that her body needs time to rest, but she can't stop worrying about the samples. She gives up. She doesn't want to start a fight on the boat. Because she knows that she would probably lose the argument. But mostly because she doesn't have the energy. "Fine," she whispers. She sits in a heap on the bench in the boat.

"Sir," Wentz says while offering a jacket and pile of blankets to the Captain.

He puts the jacket on and wraps the blankets around his body, like Rachel had done. He then settles in next to her, sitting as close as he can get without making her uncomfortable. They both sit there soaking wet and shivering uncontrollably. The blankets don't seem to be effectively helping either of them. Tom notices that her lips are blue, yet they are somehow no less desirable than her normally soft red ones.

All of the passengers sit in silence as the RHIB begins its track back to the Nathan James. The silence between the doctor and captain is filled with tension. Rachel can't figure out why.

Suddenly, she remembers what she had done to him out in the water. "I punched you," she blurts out in disbelief.

"Yea," is all that he can think to say.

It hurt like hell. She is definitely stronger than she looks.

"I'm so sorry. I thought that you were Quincy. I had absolutely no idea what was going on." She feels terrible. He tried to help her and got a punch in the face for his efforts.

He nods in understanding. "I know. It's alright. You have nothing to apologize for."

She offers him a small smile and her nerves quiet down. "So what happens now?"

"We get you taken care of immediately," Tom says without hesitation.

"I meant...to Quincy. What happens to him?" Her voice is quiet.

Tom's face visibly hardens at the shift in their conversation. He can't help but direct his gaze over to Quincy's position. He stares at the man in question with contempt for almost a full minute before turning back to Rachel. He locks eyes with her, letting her know that he is serious regarding what he is about to say. "He will be under strict armed guard. I'll see to it myself. You'll be safe. He won't be able to get to you again."

"That's not. No. I just wanted to know what was going to happen to him." She reacts nervously to the passion in Tom's voice and eyes. "He's been my partner for years. He had to have a good reason for doing this."

"Money? Ruskov was probably offering a pretty sweet deal," Tom says.

Rachel shakes her head. "No. He wouldn't do that. He is first and foremost a scientist. He wouldn't compromise our work for money."

Tom is unconvinced. "You're sure?"

"Positive."

"Well we'll find out." The Captain stares over at Quincy trying to figure out what they were going to do with him once they got back to the Nathan James. He can't help himself from feeling anxious and distrustful of Dr. Scott. He thought that they were on his side, but now he's questioning everything. Especially, the woman sitting next to him.

-/-

**TBC**, There's some doubt starting to creep in about Rachel. ;). Reviews are love! Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading.


End file.
